Cody Nicosia

After he apologized for his actions, a 20-year-old Hayward man was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for his murder and arson convictions for the strangulation death of a Castro Valley woman whose home was also set on fire.

A judge Tuesday reluctantly granted a motion by a 20-year-old Hayward man to be allowed to represent himself in a case in which he and another man are accused of murder for the strangulation death of a Castro Valley woman whose home was also set on fire.

The strangulation death last week of a Castro Valley woman whose home was also set on fire “is the kind of case that fears and nightmares are made of,” Alameda County sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. J.D. Nelson said Friday.